The Devon town made famous by a pregnant, sword-wielding woman

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Well, I suppose it’s one way of greeting visitors: a 66ft-tall, 25-ton bronze statue of a pregnant, sword-wielding woman, her skin peeled back to reveal muscles, tendons and foetus.

Meet Verity, described by her creator, Damien Hirst, as “a modern allegory for truth and justice”. Holding scales behind her back, she faces out to sea from the end of Ilfracombe’s harbour. She’s about the first thing you see if you come to this north Devon coastal town by boat, and has been since 2012.

It was then that she was given to the town on a 20-year loan by Hirst, the Croesus-rich artist who has a home and workshop nearby. As with pretty much everything Hirst makes, there was some harrumphing and head-shaking,...

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